LETTERS 9.18.13

Thanks for the beauty of scenic vistas, open spaces and a high quality of life. Right out of the old cowboy song, “Don’t fence me in.” Right? Now when most of America is going forward with the Affordable Health Car Law, we Wyomingites are being treated like outcasts, because our State government cares little for its own citizens and has no problem using us as pawns in their political games. We might as well move to another state if we want to have a healthy family. Wyoming promotes itself as the Equality State. Wrong… at least when it comes to the rights of its own people to be informed about the health care choices. Our leaders have done nothing short of trying to disable, destroy, and otherwise make it impossible for any Wyoming citizen to understand what the choices are, or get information on what will be offered in Wyoming, let alone have access to the all options other Americans are getting from their states with Medicare. The baloney about, “We don’t want big government to take over our state,” rings hollow when Wyoming has chosen of its own accord not to participate in the State exchanges and is making the Feds set up our State’s system. My family has lived here for over 35 years, and we have always stated with pride that we are lucky to call Wyoming our home. Not sure how much longer that will be true, unless we are able to get all of our rights under the new laws. It’s easy for someone to say, “If you don’t like it, tough. Take a hike to another state.” But when U.S. Citizens are being disrespected and having our rights denied by our own State, it’s un-American to sit by and let a few bad apples in our state government make those designations for political reasons. Wyoming has no problem subsidizing the rich by having no state income tax but when it comes to the rest of us we are left hanging in the wind. I challenge our state government to step up and do the right thing for the people of Wyoming. Give us the right to choose if we want to participate in the Affordable Health Care System or not. It’s not up to you to choose for us.

– Jim, Cheri, and Jack Fulmer, Jackson, Wyoming

Funding that effects change

Hello, my name is Nancy Eckstein and I am saddened that no one has listened to what I had to say last year but jumped on the band wagon and tried to take credit for what I have been trying to do for several years. I was on K2 TV News and that was when everyone started to talk about it… I found articles all the way to Montana to Colorado. Here is the link: www.k2tv/news.php?id=2628.

Rita Campbell, WY Representative House District 34, was the first person to take me seriously while Mayor Ron Warpness tried to take credit for it for bringing it into the light. If I had not been on the News this issue of raising the Beer Tax would still be hidden away by the Big Strong Liquor Association who will do anything to keep the beer tax from being raised because they don’t want to lose the money. They don’t really appear to care about people, just the bottom line, in my personal opinion…

Beer has been a rite of passage for teens that when they finish High School to have a kegger and get drunk and also to toss a few down and get drunk after a hard day at work. This is where the real trouble begins… That in American getting so drunk you get sick is ok, and that it is OK to go out and drive as well.

The money should NOT just be used for a detox center because that is Not where the trouble begins. It starts first with it be acceptable to get so drunk you cannot stand but it’s alright to drive home. Beer is also has been quoted as the “poor man’s drink.” Beer is a Luxury not a right! It is not necessary to live! It steals food from our families when someone goes out for the night to get drunk on beer!

I have a degree in Addictions and also worked for a detox center and Eastern Shoshone Recovery as well as other places over the last 10 years. No one has listened to what I had to say because it is more to their benefit (financial) to ignore the issue.

The first line of defense in dealing with drunks is our Law Enforcement! Next is the families that suffer, men, women, teens, and children are forced to go to safe houses! Then the counseling centers and our courts are next in line getting involved with the addiction. Finely, the detox and treatment center are the last resort to help those who have become addicted to alcohol.

That is where the tax monies need to go to: Law Enforcement, Stop Drinking and Driving, Safe Houses, Counseling Centers and then the Treatment center are last.

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Winter Sleigh Rides on National Elk Refuge, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the National Elk Refuge. Visitors purchase tickets at the Visitor Center and take a free shuttle bus to board the sleigh. Reservations[...]